All eyes are on the Paralympics, for now – but the future may depend on Channel 4

As we watch the epic sporting stories playing out in Tokyo across the next two weeks, it is worth thinking about what a loss a reduction in such coverage would be, writes Chris Stevenson

The latest iteration of the Games has started in Tokyo (Getty)

As the spectre of possible privatisation looms over Channel 4, the channel’s programming director, Ian Katz, has issued a warning about what such a move would mean for coverage of events like the Paralympics.

The latest iteration of the Games has started in Tokyo, but Katz has said that future coverage would not be “anything like” as comprehensive if profit became the main driver.

“I just don’t think there’s any chance that a primarily profit-driven Channel 4 would invest anything like what we invest in trying to build up and celebrate the Paralympics in the way we do,” he told the Edinburgh Television Festival. “I think we should make no mistake that a purely profit-driven Channel 4 would be a very different beast to the Channel 4 that we know now.”